Blogging From Windows 98

For the better part of the past week, I've been trying to fix my poor printer output from my aging OKIPAGE 6e LED printer. For some unknown reason, the output has recently gone from fantastic and sharp to dull and gray; like the page was dropped in a mud puddle and hung out to dry. So, what does this have to do with Windows 98? Read on for details about the twisted path that led me to this point.

The following are Google searches and/or questions and where they led:

1. How to clean Okipage 6e. This search resulted in the Okipage 6e User's Guide. The guide referred to a "Cleaning Page" setting in the Status Monitor. What is the Status Monitor and where do I find it?
   
2. Okipage 6e Status Monitor. This search led me to the Okidata drivers page, where I discovered that Okidata stopped making drivers for my printer when Windows XP was released because the driver was included with the operating system. I did, however, find drivers for Windows 3.1, 95, 98, and NT. I downloaded the Windows 95/98 driver.
   
3. How to install Windows 95/98 drivers. Since I am now running the 64-bit version of Windows 7, the old 16-bit installer will not run. My backup computer is the 32-bit version of Windows 7 RC, so I tried installing the driver there. The driver hung at 95% complete. Looks like I need an old Windows installation.
   
4. How to install Windows 98 virtually. Windows 7 supports Microsoft Virtual PC, which allows you to install any operating system in a virtual environment on your computer. I installed Virtual PC 2007 SP1 and created a new image for Windows 98. Unfortunately, the virtual environment would not boot from the Windows 98 Upgrade cd.
5. How to boot from cd Virtual PC. This search resulted in a series of discussions about using ISO images (exact duplicates of a cd, but in a file).
6. How to create ISO image. Back on the main computer, I rebooted into my Windows XP image and started my cd burning software, Nero Express. After searching through its help file, I was unable to figure out how to create an ISO image.
7. How to create ISO image Nero Express. The search resulted in a discussion about doing a disk copy, but saving the copied image as an ISO image, then canceling the operation before burning a cd copy. This worked well. I then copied the ISO image to my second computer and set my virtual environment to use it to boot. It didn't work.
8. How to boot from Windows 98. This search resulted in a discussion that said that the Windows 98 cd is not bootable. That explains that problem. Just for proof, I inserted my Windows NT cd and restarted my virtual environment. Sure enough, the cd was recognized and I was looking at the Windows NT installer. What I needed now was a DOS disk to boot from.
9. Install DOS in my virtual environment. I pulled out my old DOS 5.0 floppy disks and inserted disk 1 into the floppy drive. I rebooted my environment and nothing happened. I then realized that the floppy drive was disabled in the BIOS.
10. Enable the floppy drive in the BIOS. After a reboot of the computer, I entered the BIOS and enabled the floppy drive. Then I started my virtual environment.The floppy drive made that nice crunching sound that it makes when it reads the disk. Unfortunately, it couldn't read the disk. I removed the disk and stuck it into my main computer's floppy drive. It crunched for a few seconds, then displayed all the files. That's when I remembered that my second floppy drive no longer works, and that's why I disabled it in the BIOS.
11. How to create bootable cd Nero Express. Nero Express has an option for creating a bootable cd, so I tried it out. I inserted the cd in my second computer and rebooted the virtual environment. This resulted in some old, DOS-sy screens with drivers being loaded, and finally to an A:> prompt. Wow, I haven't seen that in awhile.
12. Install Windows 98. I replaced the cd with the Windows 98 Upgrade cd and ran Setup. It started, then quickly failed with a vague error message - something about not enough space.
    
13. I have DOS, now what? Booting from a DOS disk was not enough; I still needed to install DOS in the environment and make it boot from the hard drive. Before I could do that, I had to partition the hard drive with FDISK, then format the drive to accept data. Then I copied all the DOS files from the cd to the hard drive, removed the cd, and rebooted the environment. It worked, but all I got was a date and time input, then the A:> prompt.
14. Configure the DOS environment. DOS uses a configuration file and a batch file to configure the system. I used the old DOS EDIT program to change the files to point to the files on the C: drive and rebooted the environment.
15. Install Windows 98. After rebooting to the DOS prompt, I ran the Windows 98 Setup again. This time it started, then failed with another vague error message regarding maximum file size.
16. DOS error maximum file size. This search resulted in a discussion about the memory size of DOS applications being limited to the amount of free memory. This reminded me of the old high memory tricks I used to have to do to move drivers out of the main memory. I edited the DOS configuration file to remove the unused drivers and move the remaining driver to high memory.
17. Install Windows 98. I rebooted the environment and ran the Windows 98 Setup again. This time it started and continued running. Since it was the upgrade disk, it went searching for an old version of Windows, but couldn't find one. It prompted me to insert my old Windows cd, so I did. It didn't recognize it. I reset the cd drive in the virtual environment and Setup found the new disk. At this point, it asked for the Product ID. When we moved to Florida, I got rid of all my old boxes, which had the Product ID stickers.
18. Windows 98 Product ID. This search resulted in a page with a common Product ID. I typed it in, but it didn't work. I have Windows 98 Upgrade; there must be a difference.
19. Windows 98 Upgrade Product ID. This search resulted in a page full of Product IDs from days gone by. I tried the upgrade ID and it worked. At this point, I let Setup run to the end.
20. Install Okipage 6e drivers. I installed the printer drivers per the User's Guide instructions. After it finished, I searched the computer for the Status Monitor, but couldn't find it.
21. Okipage 6e Status Monitor. I had tried this search earlier, but I tried it again anyway. Further down the results page, I found a golden nugget about the Okipage driver installation failing to install the Status Monitor if you change the default name of the printer; which I had done. I reinstalled the driver, leaving all default settings in place, and sure enough, the Status Monitor was installed. I found the "Cleaning Page" option and ran it several times. So far, the results aren't too good. The pages are slowly coming out cleaner, but certainly not white. I'll have to sacrifice a few dollars worth of paper in the hope that I don't have to buy a new printer drum or printer.
    
22. Install Firefox 2.0. Windows 98 shipped with Internet Explorer 4. I am unwilling to risk browsing the Internet with such a poor browser, so I went searching for a browser that would work in Windows 98. The only real option was Firefox 2.0. I downloaded and installed it, then ran it. It failed immediately with a DLL error.
23. Firefox OLEAUT32 error. This search resulted in a link to a Windows 98 DCOM upgrade. The link didn't work, but I was able to find the download on Microsoft's download page. After installing the patch, Firefox worked fine.
24. Write a blog about the experience. And since I'm in this new, historic environment, I figured I might as well write a blog entry while I'm here.